An India-based gang that is causing extortion problems in Canada sent a letter to a BC police station last year boasting it had 1,000 foot soldiers ready to shoot, a police officer said Thursday.
Testifying at the extradition hearing, a criminal investigator described a letter from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that was delivered to a police station in Abbotsford, BC, on August 13, 2025.
“Actually the police found a letter written to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that was sent to the police station,” Const. Kevin St. Louis told the Immigration and Refugee Board.
“The letter mainly described their criminal organization, where they talked about having more than a thousand people willing to carry out these shootings as part of the group,” he said.
“It also refers to how all businesses need to pay tax, which I think clearly shows the profit this group is looking to make as a result of this fraud.”
The officer is an investigator for Project Al-Extortion, an investigation into organized crime groups targeting members of Alberta’s South Asian community.
The Abbotsford Police Department confirmed the letter.
“The details of this letter have been shared with our law enforcement partners who are involved in the fight against money laundering across Canada,” Sgt. Paul Walker said.
“Detectives working with our internal AbbyPD (Operation Community Shield) team have begun to investigate the origin of the letter and the contents of the letter,” he added.
“I am not in a position to comment further on any of the details contained in the letter or the investigative steps taken since then.”
This book appeared when St. Louis, who is a detective with the Edmonton Police Service, appearing as a witness in a deportation hearing on allegations that he is a member of a gang based in Edmonton.
During his testimony, the officer provided rare information on the Bishnoi gang, an international criminal organization that was placed on Canada’s list of designated terrorist groups last September.
The RCMP believe that the Bishnoi gang has also been hired by the Indian government to assassinate BC Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 in an act of alleged international repression.
Led by Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been operating out of an Indian prison where he has been held since 2015, the criminal group began a wave of crimes against South Asian Canadians.
To swindle its victims, the Bishnoi gang relies on Indians in Canada who are paid “small” money to shoot but also want to feel like friends, the investigator said.
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“I think a lot of them see it as a form of belonging to an organization or a group,” he told the Immigration and Refugee Board, adding that “most of them are targeted at schools.”
“Everyone we have identified in this investigation is a temporary foreign worker or student visa holder and has recently entered Canada.”
“It sounds funny to say it but what we often see with criminal organizations and gangs is that it gives you that sense of involvement and sense of community when you have this particular group,” said St.
Gangs contact South Asian business owners and individuals to demand large sums of money. If the victims do not pay, their homes and businesses are sprayed with guns, said the police officer.
Demands for money are always made through WhatsApp, often referring to Lawrence Bishnoi or his right-hand man Goldy Brar, he said, but most of the calls come from another Bishnoi member named Jora Sidhu.
“The one consistent name that actually committed the robbery was Mr. Jora Sidhu,” said St. “We believe that Mr. Jora Sidhu was not in Canada when he made these requests via WhatsApp.”
“That being said, we believe he was the main person responsible for communicating with these criminals,” the official testified, adding that the RCMP identified him by voice matching.
The Bishnoi group broke up last fall, he said, because of disagreements between its India-based namesake and Brar, his Canadian lieutenant. After that he changed the team’s tactics, he added.
After the split, gang members started shooting at houses and businesses without contacting the owners to demand money, which he said could indicate a level of “disorganization”.
“I think one of the biggest changes we saw was a change in the general structure of these groups, and the way they do these things,” he said.
Copycat groups have also sprung up, capitalizing on gangs’ fears, he said. But although they called the Bishnoi gang and its leaders, they did not shoot, said St.
The officer also described the challenges faced by investigators, including the use of encrypted messaging applications and international phone numbers.
Gangs also move guns between states, making it “almost impossible” to track them down. In one incident, a gun was used to extort money from people in two states within a 24-hour period, he said.
“The speed with which these firearms are transported between different states has made it very difficult to find and seize many of these firearms,” ​​said a police detective.
The testimony came during the deportation hearing of Jashandeep Singh, an alleged gang member linked to shootings in Alberta, BC and Ontario.
The case is the latest attempt by the Canada Border Services Agency to deal with the problem of extortion in Canadian cities by deporting those involved.
Provinces with large Canadian-Sikh populations have been hit hardest, particularly BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
On Monday, Peel police announced the arrest of 17 suspects from the For Brothers gang, which targets South Asian businessmen.
But deportation has become a key tool against gangs, as many members are not Canadian.
As of May 7, the CSA has opened 446 investigations against suspected embezzlers and issued 118 removal orders, while 55 have been deported.
The majority of cases, 188, were in the Toronto region, followed by BC with 132 and the Prairies, where 126 investigations had been initiated.
“If police identify individuals who may be in violation of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, they notify the CBSA, which conducts an immigration investigation that can lead to enforcement, including removal from Canada,” the CBSA said.
An internal RCMP report said the Bishnoi group was also involved in contract killings in Canada, and were “working for the Indian government.”
The Indian government is suspected of targeting Hardeep Nijjar because he is a leading activist in the Khalistan movement seeking the independence of India’s Punjab.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is implicated in a second assassination attempt on a Canadian Khalistan activist living in New York.
But India denies any involvement, and as recently as this week its top envoy in Ottawa told the Globe and Mail that Canada’s national security agencies were “put at risk.”
Asked whether the Indian High Commissioner would be fired for his remarks, Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s staff did not respond.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
